Gegard Mousasi Wants the Next Crack at New UFC Middleweight Lyoto Machida

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Gegard Mousasi Wants the Next Crack at New UFC Middleweight Lyoto Machida

Lyoto Machida got through Mark Munoz on Saturday night, and now Gegard Mousasi wants a piece.

Mousasi, in a message to MMAWeekly.com, said he wants next dibs on Machida, which he believes would earn him a shot at the middleweight title.

“I want to make an impact in the middleweight division and to fight the best contenders out there,” said Mousasi. “I respect Machida and would like to test my stand-up against him. I believe a fight between us would determine the No.1 contender in the middleweight division. ‘The Dream Catcher vs. The Dragon’ sounds good to me. Let’s do it.”

Machida made quick work of Munoz in the main event at UFC Fight Night 30 in Manchester, England, getting the knockout victory in the first round. The win put many within the UFC on notice that Machida would be a strong contender at 185 pounds. Those who took notice of Machida’s efforts included his boss.

“Welcome to 185 @lyotomachidafw,” tweeted UFC president Dana White.

Mousasi made his promotional debut in the UFC last April in a 205-pound fight at UFC on Fuel TV 9. The fight was originally slotted to be against highly ranked light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson, but a pre-fight cut forced Mousasi’s opponent to pull out of the match-up. The Dutch-Armenian fighter instead went on to earn a one-sided win over Ilir Latifi, one of Gustafsson’s training partners.

In May, Mousasi told MMAWeekly.com that he went into his April bout with a knee injury. Following the fight, he began his recovery work and made statements about his intention to move down to 185 pounds. With recovery going smoothly, the fighter targets the start of his UFC middleweight run for February 2014, which lands his return at either UFC 169 in Newark, N.J., or UFC 170 in Las Vegas.

Nima Safapour, Mousasi’s manager, said that the recent influx of new talent at middleweight provides a lot of interesting options, but a fight with Machida is all he and his fighter want at the moment.

“The middleweight division has been revitalized recently with the new faces that have entered that division from Strikeforce and guys like Lyoto Machida that have come down from light heavyweight,” Safapour told MMAWeekly.com. “We believe the fight (with Machida) would determine the No.1 contender.”

Just jumped to top of my dream fight list theese 2 would be one crazy stylistic matcH both have above average striking and great BJJ thats underrated in both cases I feel the only advantage on paper goes to Lyoto's grappling his TD's and TDD is much better IMO so he dictates where this fight takes place if it were to happen.

I really believe that people like Bill Murray or John Belushi are just as great and just as valid as Robert De Niro or Al Pacino. And I don't think you can say One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) is a better movie than Animal House (1978); they're different genres. I think they're both examples of great craftsmanship.

Machida is a force to be reckoned with at 185. Machida vs Vitor/Mousasi makes the most sense to me for #1 contender while Weidman/Silva are tied up. This needs to happen! Seeing as how Machida didnt take any damage he can fight again pretty much as soon as he has a challenger and Dana and the UFC brass wants to put him on a card.

I think it all depends on whether or not Vitor gets past Hendo. If Vitor wins and Anderson regains(which I'm thinking they plug ahead for a trilogy bout for Summer of 2014, maybe with Goose/Jones II for a massive buyrate) here's how I see them booking MW:

Vitor/Machida in February 8th in Brazil

Bisping/Munoz in UK on the March 8th UK card or maybe the Macau card in March or the January card in Singapore. I think this would be the next bout to give Bisping his original matchup given what will be a relatively long layoff and the lack of real draws in the UK market. Heck, I don't think it's out of the question if they make Bisping/Le....

Jacare/Mousasi II on the UFC on FOX card on January 25. Gives both excellent exposure and will get the winner over something massive. They have a history and would be a helluva great rematch.

Since Rockhold and Carmont are trying to get a match set up between the two of them on Twitter, that would mean that everybody except Boetsch would have a match up going into the first quarter of 2014...

This fight would be a high stakes technical striking match, but I have to give the edge to Lyoto. He can be patient and land big power moving forward or backwards. I don't think Geagard can match him. But who knows? Lets have the fight and find out!

"I don't call the fighting in my films 'violent', I call it 'action'. An action film borders between fantasy and reality. If I were to be completely realistic in my films, you would call me a violent, bloody man. I would simply destroy my opponent by tearing his guts out. I wouldn't do it so artistically." ~Bruce Lee